5 Cardiovascular Fitness Considerations for Dancers
Posted on by Alyssa Hartley, PT, DPT, CMTPT
Dancers’ leaps, turns, and lifts can seemingly defy laws of physics. In order to jump higher and turn faster, dancers must implement cross-training for strength and endurance. Dancers from around the world have faced new challenges practicing at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, it is important for dancers to pursue physical fitness outside of traditional dance class to ultimately improve their technical abilities for when they hit the stage in the future.
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3 Tips to Get Back Into Exercise
Posted on by Tanner Neuberger, PT, DPT, TDN Level 1
Routines are easy to stick to when they’re something you’re used to doing. When we fall out of our routines, it is much harder to get back into it versus staying the course and keeping the momentum going. Working fitness into a daily routine can be hard. For the most part, it's an uncomfortable experience, especially if it's not an activity that you particularly enjoy doing. Through my experience, I’ve seen three groups of people in regards to the experience of exercise:
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6 Tips to Prepare for an Upcoming Hand or Arm Surgery
Posted on by Allison Sweeney, OTR/L
Have you ever broken your wrist slipping on ice or possibly jammed a finger playing sports? Maybe you have cut yourself while cooking an amazing meal. Unfortunately these things happen and in some cases you may require surgery to fix it. Having surgery on your hand or upper extremity can be very overwhelming and nerve wracking, however there are things that you can do to prepare yourself to make the recovery process easier. Below is a list of tips and tricks to keep in mind in the days before your surgery:
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4 Ways to Move More
Posted on by Tanner Neuberger, PT, DPT, TDN Level 1
The pandemic showed many of us that we had to get creative with our fitness outside of a gym or group workout setting. When gyms and fitness centers were closed, many people were left wondering what they were going to do to stay fit and keep working on their health. Many ingenious methods were created to combat this problem, and it helped open up a new realm of home fitness that I personally loved seeing. Fitness is an important part of our lives, or at least should be, and it's vital to keep moving for both our mental and physical health. Even though restrictions for gym and fitness centers have lifted, I want to highlight some of my favorite ways to add in extra movements throughout the day to keep yourself physically fit.
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3 Ways to Make Your Walk a Workout
Posted on by George Zakharia, DPT
Walking is a great activity to boost health, mood, and even keep you alive. It has even been coined “the 6th vital sign” as walking speed can correlate with functional ability, balance confidence, future health status, risk of hospitalization, discharge location, and mortality. To read further on other benefits of walking, see our previous blog on the 6 Health Benefits of Walking.
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Guide to Gardening: 4 Tips to Conquer the Earth Pain-Free
Posted on by Janet Apgar OTR/L, CHT, CMTPT, AIB-VRC, ASTYM cert.
Research shows that gardeners have decreased anxiety, depression, and body mass index (a measure of body fat percentage calculated by dividing one’s weight by height). Gardening, when done in community also promotes societal well-being. Many garden for yard maintenance, to grow food, or just for enjoyment. Although gardening is rewarding and good for your health, gardeners should still keep a few things in mind before conquering the earth. It is important to take precautions to protect your back, knees and arms from repetitive stress and injury. Here are just a few considerations to keep in mind.
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My Doctor Recommended Physical Therapy, Now What?
Posted on by Brandon Bowers, PT, DPT, Astym Cert.
Physical therapy is a comprehensive treatment option performed by physical therapists and physical therapy assistants to address pain and functional limitation. There are many physicians and other health care providers who recommend physical therapy to their patients, but what happens after this recommendation is made? How do I choose a good physical therapist? How soon can physical therapy begin? Look no further, answers to all of these questions can be found right here.
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Tips for the Hips: 7 Flexibility & Strengthening Exercises
Posted on by Tanner Neuberger, PT, DPT, TDN Level 1
Your hips are some of the most unique structures within your body. Not only do 17 muscles cause movement of the hip, but also the joint itself is very diverse in its movement capabilities. Unique groups of muscles that control these movements at the hip are able to move in all three planes of motion. These planes include frontal plane (or side-to-side), sagittal plane (or forward/backward), and transverse plane (twisting or rotational movements). Because of the diverse nature of the joint, maintaining strong muscles and flexibility are key in optimizing hip health as we age. The following will be a set of exercises that are good starting points to target hip strengthening and flexibility.
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